“Syme was not only dead, he was abolished, an unperson.”

Big Food vs. Big Insurance

One of the most pernicious aspects of our economy are our ridiculous subsidies to agribusiness. This effectively makes stuff like corn, and consequently high fructose corn syrup and thus sodas and other junk foods, very cheap. So cheap, that a lot of people buy a lot of them. And it’s no surprise that we have obesity and diabetes on the rise.

But proposing that we reduce or eliminate our subsidies to farmers is challenging, not because our poor farmer friends would get the shaft, but because the majority of the subsidies go to a small number of the largest – and wealthiest – mega-farmers. And they are a politically powerful bunch, who own the senators and representatives from their many farming states.

So for these reasons, I’ve been pessimistic for a long time about changing the system. But in today’s NYT, Michael Pollan writes what I think is a very important article. If a health care bill gets passed, it means more people get entered into the system, and the law will prohibity denying coverage to them. And with the coming diabetes epidemic, as Pollan points out, this means that every person with type 2 diabetes will cost the health insurance industry $400,000 per person per lifetime in costs. This will become a very powerful incentive for the health care industry to support changing the American diet, which has to include changing our farm subsidies. And only once the health insurance industry enters the fray will farm subsidies have a political opponent that is large and powerful enough to take on big agribusiness. It’s a very similar idea to how the health insurance industry supported various measures designed to decrease smoking, once they realized it was bad for their business. But in pursuing changes that will help their business, the health insurance industry could greatly change the American diet for the better.